Bodyguard, episode 1: a flawed hero, a controversy-baiting home secretary and a spectacular opening sequence

Follow the author of this article

Follow the topics within this article

It began with a bomb and ended on a bombshell. Sunday night saw a breathless start for BBC One’s contemporary political thriller Bodyguard, from the people who brought us the cop corruption drama Line of Duty.

How about that opening sequence?

It takes some cojones to open a series called Bodyguard with a 20-minute scene that didn’t involve any actual bodyguarding. Or, indeed, one of the show’s two co-stars. But as we know from Line of Duty, writer Jed Mercurio is partial to both bravura set pieces and subverting viewers’ expectations.

The nerve-shredding action found Sgt David Budd (Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden), an Afghan war veteran now working for the Metropolitan Police's Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch (RaSP), taking his two children home on the train from a visit to their grandmother – and finding time to tackle Islamist terrorists while they slept. This was Spooks meets 24, with Budd as a Scottish Jack McBauer – and all filmed on the Mid-Norfolk Railway, standing in for the mainline route into Euston.

Cue twists and turns as he initially suspected a male passenger locked in the loo, before realising it was his wife Nadia (Anjli Mohindra, best known as Rani Chandra from The Sarah Jane Adventures) who’d been coerced into wearing a suicide belt. “I see you’re as scared as I am,” said Budd, gently negotiating with the trembling Nadia in the claustrophobic carriage vestibule and keeping her calm while getting plucky train guard Sandra (Olwen May) to evacuate the adjacent coaches.

As trigger-happy armed police entered the carriage and a sniper took aim, Budd embraced and almost slow-danced with Nadia so they couldn’t get a clear shot, persuading them to deploy bomb disposal instead. Both Nadia and her husband were taken into custody. The threat was neutralised with no casualties. Viewers could finally breathe. Bravo.

David Budd finds himself negotiating with terrorist on the trainCredit:
BBC

Steely Keeley as Theresa May or Amber Rudd , anyone?

As reward for his bravery, Budd was assigned as principal protection officer to the Home Secretary: the Rt Hon Julia Montague MP (Line of Duty favourite Keeley Hawes, reunited with Mercurio). Budd soon found himself torn between his professional duty and his personal beliefs.

Former barrister Montague was a controversy-baiting minister intent on pushing a new counter-terrorism bill (dubbed a “snooper’s charter”) through Parliament to give the security services enhanced surveillance powers. Her political ambitions – the more moderate PM suspected she was after his job – made Montague a high-profile target.

Dedicated to his job but harbouring deep resentment of politicians following his traumatic tour in Helmand, could Budd's divided loyalties make him Montague's greatest threat? “The thing is, David slash Dave,” she said, “I don’t need you to vote for me, only to protect me.”

Keeley Hawes and Richard Madden star in BodyguardCredit:
BBC

Montague was a compelling creation: focused, forceful, autocratic, a ball-breaker with her staff and not averse to Thick of It-style swearing – yet also giving glimpses of her softer side (“Sorry we got off on the wrong foot, I’ve been a total cow”). As a female Home Secretary with her eye on the top job, comparisons will inevitably be made with Theresa May. Hawes is almost two decades younger and, we’ll wager, rather more graceful at curtseying.

Perhaps Montague is closer to Amber Rudd. Indeed, Hawes admits to studying her in preparation for the role : “I did have a good look at Amber Rudd. She was just a brilliant example of the life that Julia is living.”

Rudd, for her part, has revealed that she formed a close friendship with her protection team, albeit adding: "Off-duty, the Julia Montague character is a bit of a bitch, which I hope my own former detail would agree I am not."

Keeley Hawes, Richard Madden and Paul ReadyCredit:
BBC

Real-life cameos came thick and fast

OK, he didn’t appear in person but there was an unexpected glimpse of former prime minister David Cameron. On a security sweep of Montague’s flat, Budd spotted a framed photograph of her being chummy with Cameron. “That’s us, plotting to build the Death Star,” she deadpanned. A neat little nod to real world politics, as well as a treat for Star Wars fans.

This bodyguard is a flawed hero

As we got to know Budd over the course of this first hour, it became clear that beneath the heroism, he was volatile and deeply troubled. Struggling to cope with life back on civvy street, he bore both physical and mental scars from his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His anger issues meant he was separated from nurse wife Vicky (Sophie Rundle) and although he still harboured hopes of a reconciliation, she’d started seeing someone else. Budd exhibited signs of post-traumatic stress disorder – a twitchy hand, insomnia, mood swings, breathless panic attacks, hearing gunfire – but refused to seek help for fear of losing his job, preferring to self-medicate with alcohol.

In his job, though, he remained impressively cool and clear-thinking in a crisis. There was something Terminator-like in the way his eyes swept the room and road ahead, making a “dynamic risk assessment”. Eyes that were later transfixed on the TV as he repeatedly rewound Montague’s speech about the “building a secure future, not apologising for the past” and on his laptop screen as he researched how she’d consistently voted for military intervention in Middle East. Uh-oh.

Army comrade could spell trouble

Budd reluctantly stopped by a Veteran’s Peace Group meeting. Prickly and defensive, he declined their offer of PTSD counselling sessions but did have moonlit chat with group leader Andy (played by Tom Brooke, who you might recognise as Game of Thrones’ "Lame" Lothar Frey or Sherlock’s druggie chemist Bill Wiggins).

Facially scarred from the war and bitterly resentful of politicians who see soldiers as collateral damage, Andy almost seemed to be grooming Budd, in an echo of the Muslim couple from the train. “You said it in Helmand,” recalled David. If you ever find yourself next to one of these bastards that sent us out here, you’d close your eyes and pull the trigger.” Uh-oh. Again.

Montague had man trouble

There were hints that Montague could be having an affair with her advisor Rob Macdonald (Paul Ready, a recognisable face from Utopia, Motherland and The Terror, as well as extensive theatre work). Bringing her gifts as well as late-night takeaways and gifts, he seemed more than just a colleague.

Nicholas Gleaves as Roger PenhaligonCredit:
BBC

Lurking menacingly in the background was her ex-husband, Chief Whip Roger Penhaligon (Nicholas Gleaves). This bullying parliamentary bruiser got pleasingly put in his place by Budd, who pretended he was mixed race after Penhaligon called him a “monkey”. Politicians making racist gaffes? Wherever did Mercurio get that idea?

What’s the sacked assistant up to?

As Montague’s put-upon assistant, the card of hapless Chanel (Stephanie Hyam, aka “The Pilot” from Doctor Who) was marked from early on. She not only failed to tell her boss about the possibility of Number 10 taking her slot on The Andrew Marr Show but spilt coffee on Montague’s blouse minutes before she went on-camera – bizarrely reacting by getting the nervous giggles. Thanks goodness Budd’s white shirt happened to fit the Home Secretary, eh?

It’s safe to say Chanel didn’t take her dismissal well, shouting the odds as Budd escorted her from the building. McDonald was a “narcissistic smug prick”, apparently. Rather than leave in the “shitty cab” they’d called for her, she promptly hopped into a chauffeur-driven black Range Rover.

Natalie Dew and Stephanie HyamCredit:
BBC

Chanel was later seen meeting a journalist to tell her that Montague was “a sociopath” and “the most dangerous woman in the country, with an agenda to heighten fear, destroy debate and seize power”. More than just a disgruntled ex-employee, surely. Secretly working for a political rival, perhaps?

Bodyguarding lingo decoded

Line of Duty’s scripts are liberally sprinkled with police-speak and the Bodyguard was similarly jargon-heavy.